HISTORY PROF NEW MEMBER OF DOWNTOWN GROUP

Dr. Steven Hoffman, assistant professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University, recently was named to the board of the newly formed Missouri Downtown Association.

The new statewide organization is designed to promote downtown revitalization and development in towns and cities across Missouri.

"Since historic preservation is so important in our downtowns, the organization wanted someone with that expertise," Hoffman said. "This is important work. We are training our students to do lots of different things, and economic redevelopment is one of them."

Hoffman teaches classes at Southeast in historic preservation. He is involved in integrating technology into the classroom and currently is teaching his American history survey course as a Web-based class.

Hoffman also has been involved in working with black history in Cape Girardeau and black historic preservation. He is co-chairman of the Martin Luther King Planning Committee and is a founding member of the Missouri chapter of the National Association for African-American Heritage Preservation. Hoffman was involved last winter in planning this group's first conference to discuss the preservation of Missouri's ethnic heritage. The conference was held in March in St. Louis.

Hoffman, originally from New Jersey, came to Southeast in 1995.

Membership in the Missouri Downtown Association is open to individuals, associations, agencies, Main Street programs, businesses and governmental units interested in the development and improvement of downtown areas.

The organization plans to hold an annual statewide conference where members and participants can share techniques, learn what is happening in other communities and hear from experts.

A series of one-day regional seminars will be held throughout the state to deal with specific issues affecting downtowns in the areas of financing, housing, business development, business retention and tourism.